Message Received
by Talliya
Summary: Prompto couldn't handle the waiting, Noctis wakes to a world turned upside down, and poor Talcott... poor Talcott.
1. Prom's Text

_**I do not own any rights to Final Fantasy XV/15 or its characters. This work is not for profit.**_

Years were hard to keep track of…once the sun had all but disappeared. Everything was getting harder. More people dying, people just going missing…or worse. Supplies were few and far between, and all in all…it was a complete and utter shit show.

Nothing had gotten better in the…what.. four years that Noctis had been gone? He was starting to lose track. Everything seemed just like a long, agonizing blur the more days that past. The gunner had hoped he'd become more reassured the more time that passed. He'd promised himself that he was going to do what he felt was right. What he wanted out of life.

But the loss of his best friend to the crystals' will had all but shattered any sort of hope he could have had.

The first year had been…a struggle, to say the least. The group had tried to stay together, they honestly had. But without Noctis there to keep the three men together, it had all but fallen apart. Gladiolus was still just as irritable, if not more. Ignis…well, he was quiet. Not that he wasn't before hand, but more so. After all, the one person they were in charge of had just up and vanished. With no telling when he'd return.

Or if he'd return.

It had taken Prompto most of that first year to try and get things calmed down. To try and even out the situation as best as he could, but there were priorities to take into consideration.

Gladiolus wanted to be there for his sister. She had started going out and helping in hunts, and the man was damned if he was gonna lose another person. So where she went, he would follow. And they made a good duo, the blonde had to admit. Iris had really come into her own.

Ignis was a different matter. There were things; things that frankly Prompto couldn't begin to understand, that Lestallum needed help with. And the former adviser was best suited for the job. He had no complaints about this, and if he did…he definitely would never voice them. It was what Ignis wanted to do, and honestly Prompto was just glad it would keep the other safe.

Around that time, the blonde had decided that his place was in Hammerhead. There were people who needed help, and he needed something to take away the endless time he had to think. …Because the more he thought about the situation, the more it hurt.

And it'd worked for some time.

Over the next three years, all he did was work. Work to keep his mind off of how much he wished things hadn't gone to shit. Hell, he'd even tried to actually ask Cindy out. Not that it worked out, or anything. But he'd taken the rejection in stride and put his nose to the grindstone helping in the garage.

But the silence had slowly started to creep back in…

There was more time for him to think, once he'd hit the four year mark. Four years of waiting, and Prompto was sold on the idea that he just…wasn't going to see his friend ever again.

Hell, he had only seen Gladiolus and Ignis enough times to count on one hand over the years. And he'd gotten…a hell of a lot lonelier as the clock kept ticking. He knew Cindy could see the change, the way she hung around more to keep an eye on him. Like she knew his light was about to putter out.

And putter out it had…

Today of all days. It had to be some sort of joke, honestly. If he could bring up the energy to even laugh. The day the two had become such fast friends. Of course Prompto would remember it, the very day he'd made his first friend. He used to bring Noctis the dumbest gifts on that day…

…This day, it was his gun keeping him company. He felt cowardly, looking down at the very thing that had been a gift…a birthday gift of all things. It felt wrong to be thinking what he was thinking right now with this on his lap. Weighing him down as he contemplated his next move. He was just so tired of the ache in his chest… Tired of the constant fight, of struggling for supplies. Watching time and time again as daemons would kill people, and no one blinked an eye anymore. Tired of missing his friends so damned much, but the ones that were there were always gone. Tired of the nightmares of torture that plagued him every night. …And the one that wasn't, the blonde didn't know if he'd ever come back.

Letting out a shaky sigh, he ran a hand through his hair as he struggled for the right thing to do.

Prompto knew the answer wasn't what was on his lap…he knew this and yet…here he was. Staring down at it.

Looking to his side, he picked up his phone and looked over the text messages…all old. Nothing new. Most of them sent by himself. Something heavy sank in his heart before he pressed against Noctis' messages on his screen.

 **[Text: Noct] Hey buddy…**

 **[Text: Noct] I know it's been a long time since I texted…hell, I'm not sure you even get texts wherever you are…**

 **[Text: Noct] But I wanted to let you know that it's that day again. The day I'd finally worked up the courage to talk to you… yeah yeah, I know, stupid sappy Prompto. But that day meant a lot to me…**

 **[Text: Noct] Sorry to say that today I don't have a present for you…much like the last couple of years. In fact…what I'm about to do is probably the worst thing I could do to date.**

 **[Text: Noct] I wanted to talk to someone…anyone, even if I know you won't answer. But hey, at least you have an excuse right? Being stuck in a crystal and all.**

 **[Text: Noct] I'm sorry…**

 **[Text: Noct] I'm sorry that I couldn't hold out until you came back.**

 **[Text: Noct] I'm sorry that I'm the worst best friend you could have asked for.**

 **[Text: Noct] I'm so…so, so sorry that I'm so damned weak that I couldn't handle losing you and not knowing if you'd come back.**

 **[Text: Noct] I'm sorry for doubting if you would. Fuck am I gonna look stupid when you do come back…but I guess I won't be there to realize it.**

 **[Text: Noct] Buddy…when you come back…can you tell them I'm sorry too? I know I'm going to let them down too… I...I didn't stay in Hammerhead either. I didn't want Cindy and Talcott seein' something like that.**

 **[Text: Noct] More importantly…give him hell…**

 **[Text: Noct] I know I couldn't say this much when you were around…probably shouldn't have said it since you and Luna were expected to be a thing.**

 **[Text: Noct] But I love you dude…with all my stupid little heart.**

 **[Text: Noct] And I better not see you on the other side too damn soon…**

 **[Text: Noct] …I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise to be by your side always…**

 **[Text: Noct] You're going to be a great king…**


	2. Waking to Ruin

He came out of the crystal a confused and achy man. Honestly, he was surprised his hair wasn't longer, wait… his hair was long at all? He had randomly scratched his head before, but now brought both hands up. Yes, his hair was certainly longer now, and the facial hair probably made him look like a scraggly bear. Plus moving hurt, it felt as if his limbs hadn't been used in ages.

The sound of his phone going off with Prompto's ringtone startled him, he nearly jumped out of his skin. Well, it seemed his phone still worked, but he was sure from the length of his hair that he'd been gone long enough for the damned thing to die for good.

He pulled the phone from his pocket and clicked on the message. He stared for a long time at the date sent verses the date received. How the fuck was that even possible? The text was from six years ago. And even that was four years after any date he could remember. Fuck.

He opened the message and read it several times, only glancing up from it with a horrified expression when Umbra barked at him. "Umbra, wha-?"

He bent down and pet the dog, giving him a hug before Umbra insisted they move. He followed him to a boat, and drove it back to the land barely discernible in the distance. Everything was so dark, the sun gone seemingly forever. This was all his fault! If only he'd been stronger! Been able to resist Ardyn's hallucinations and not lost Prompto in the first place. Maybe then they wouldn't have fallen apart like it seemed they had.

Landing in Galdin Quay he pulled his phone back out and texted Prompto back.

 **[ChocoboKing: I really hope you didn't off yourself with your birthday gift Prompto. I bought those so you could protect yourself while I wasn't around.**

 **[ChocoboKing: I… I'm sorry. I should have been there for you. This should have never happened.**

 **[ChocoboKing: I love you too you know. Another reason why the marriage with Luna felt so forced. I'm so sorry Prompto.**


	3. Tears

Talcott nearly jumped out of his skin when the phone, residing so quietly the last six years in his coat pocket rang. He had long ago memorized the ringtones Prompto had used for various people, and hearing this particular one play... had him shaking. He slowly pulled to the side of the road, then pulled the phone from his pocket, swiped the screen on, and checked the message.

What little blood was left in his face drained away and he nearly fainted. He knew about Prompto's last text, to his best friend, his Prince, his would-be King, the man he loved. It was something Talcott had held close to his heart for the last six years, it kept him focused and going when things got too hard, simply knowing that the ray of sunshine that had been Prompto Argentum could hold out so long when he suffered so much. It put things into perspective for him, and prompted him to always listen when people complained, whined, or out-right bitched about things. He tried his best to give those people his time if nothing else, a listening ear, so that, just maybe, no one else he knew would commit suicide.

Finding Prompto as he had, it still hurt just to think about. Cindy had called him up, frantic, saying something about Prompto being missing, not answering his calls or texts. No one knew where he could have gone, she'd looked everywhere nearby, had hunters on the lookout for him. But, it had been three weeks since anyone had seen him. It had been about three weeks since the last time Talcott had seen him too. They had pushed an out of gas truck into Hammerhead together, well... Dustin had helped too, after saving the inhabitants - a couple of newbie hunters - from a couple of Iron Giants that liked to roam the roads.

After assuring Cindy that he'd do what he could to find their only ray of light in the growing darkness, Talcott had hung up and told Dustin that they needed to leave, Prompto was missing. The man hadn't wasted any time. They were in the truck and on the road in the time it took to grab up weapons, phones, keys, and get to the truck. It took some thinking on Talcott's part, trying to remember if there was any place Prompto mentioned liking to go when he needed space. They found him in the ruins of the Tomb of the Just. It seemed like he'd been there for a while, his camping tools were set inside out of the weather, there wasn't any sign of a fire left anywhere in the area, so Dustin wasn't sure if Prompto had ever even made one.

Talcott saw him first, dried blood spilled over his shoulder and down the arm that fell slack to the floor, one of the guns Prompto claimed where his prize possessions laying cold against fingers that had given up their grip long before. A bullet lodged in his temple. He had simply stood there for long moments, only moving when Dustin came to ask him what was wrong. He'd slowly moved to Prompto's side, taken the gun and handed it calmly to Dustin, asking him to clean it. He found Prompto's phone on the tomb slab beside Prompto's chair, it was dead, but he took it anyway. The look on Prompto's face as his head rested to one side against the back of the camp chair would forever be stuck in his memory. It wasn't pain, or fear, or sadness... but, a kind of bliss, like he was finally released from a great burden.

Talcott opened his eyes and brought the phone back in front of his face with shaky hands. He looked at the time stamp, making sure it was indeed recent and not just some hiccup electronics sometimes did. He didn't bother texting back, he didn't want to get Noctis' hopes up after all. He did however, bring out his own phone and use a program he had invented to triangulate the location from which the message had been sent.

He took a deep breath as the program told him that Noctis was near Galdin Quay, he'd be driving by there shortly on his way to deliver supplies to Hammerhead anyway. He called up Cindy to let her know he was picking up Prince Noctis, sitting through her surprise and demanding questions, which he didn't answer. Then he called up Gladiolus and Ignis to let them know, both were currently in Hammerhead already apparently. They took the news with less questions than Cindy, and Talcott pulled away from the cliff side and drove slowly out to Galdin Quay.

He saw Umbra first, pulling to a stop at the dog's happy bark. The man following after him however, he almost didn't recognize as Noctis, the clothes were what Prompto had secretly taken a picture of shortly before they all got separated, though. Talcott leaned over the cab seat and threw the door open, "Hop on in, Your Highness!"

Noctis gave Umbra a confused searching type of look, but shrugged when the dog hopped into the truck, and followed suit.

"Boy am I glad to see you!" Talcott smiled at the man's startled expression. "Well, we have been waiting ten years for you to come back. Though, um..."

Here Talcott's face fell and he looked to the road ahead with more purpose than before. Noctis sighed, "So, he did it then." Talcott could hear him swallow, "He offed himself with the birthday gift I gave him."

All Talcott could do was nod, trying hard to hold back the tears that had never seemed to come before. He hadn't cried when he'd found Prompto, simply started seeing to his things, then he and Dustin had wrapped him in a blanket and placed him and his things gently into the back of the truck and headed for Hammerhead. They had both assumed the news would be more welcome there than taking him to Lestallum.

Cindy had cried the moment she saw the blanket in the back, somehow knowing he wasn't just back there sleeping as he'd done on several occasions. But, Talcott hadn't, he'd helped where he could in planning Prompto's funeral, he was the one who called Ignis and Gladiolus. They came cussing up storms over how and why Prompto hadn't just come to them. Talcott had gotten angry then. He had charged Prompto's phone when they got back to Hammerhead, seen how the only contact with anyone Prompto had had in at least a year was from either himself or Cindy... There had been messages sent out to the two men, messages that had gone unanswered.

So with all the rage of an indignant twelve year old, Talcott had told off the head of the Crownsguard and a blind man who meant the world to the man they'd just found dead. Dustin had said they were lucky none of the wildlife or daemons had found Prompto before they did, mentioned that maybe the Tomb had something to do with it. Talcott threw everything in their faces, letting them know just how much Prompto had done for Hammerhead, Cindy, Cid, himself, Cape Caem, Lestallum, ithem/i in recent years as well as before Noctis was sucked away from them by the Crystal. He'd ranted and railed, brought both men and several others within hearing to tears, but he'd never cried over it himself. No, he had understood exactly where Prompto was coming from. The knowledge scared him, galvanized him into thinking another way, helped him to not head down that same path.

Noctis asked how things had been since he'd been gone, and Talcott told him all he knew. By the time they arrived in Hammerhead, both of them were exhausted. Talcott excused himself and headed for his cot in the Garage. He pulled out Prompto's phone and set it beside his own, placed his keys down, and flopped face first into his pillow. He cried for the first time in over six years, cried for everything Prompto had lost both before and after he took his own life.

Cindy found him that way and simply laid down beside him and wrapped her arms around him, crying with him for a while. "I'm glad you can finally let some of this go. I was afraid you'd yell at Noctis too."

Talcott sniffled and shook his head, "Can't be mad at him. He loved Prompto just as much as Prompto loved him, and there was nothing he c-could do about it. He was stuck in a crystal."

"What do ya mean?" Cindy rose up on her arm to look him in the eyes. He simply pointed his chin at Prompto's phone. With a quirked brow Cindy moved over and lifted in gently into her hands and turned on the screen, opening it to the messages Talcott had left it on. She carefully read them over, fresh tears welling in her eyes. "Oh boy. Oh Talcott, you've had this this whole time?"

He nodded when she looked down at him, tears still leaking into his pillow.

"Well, I can understand why you never said anything about it." She sighed, turned the phone back off and set it down, then curled herself around Talcott again. "I'm so sorry you had to deal with it all yourself though. You know we're here for you, right?"

He sniffled again, "Yes, I know Miss Cindy."

"Well, that's good then." With nothing else to say they fell into teary silence. Once Talcott was asleep, Cindy slipped away to talk to the three men so newly reunited, and gave them all a piece of her own mind. Then she offered to take Noctis out to Prompto's grave, but only after Talcott woke, as she knew he'd want to go too.

Noctis agreed, and he, Gladiolus, and Ignis took their old camping gear and headed out to the haven for one last camp. They were roused in the 'morning' by Cindy and Talcott, and made their way to Prompto's grave site. They all watched as Noctis knelt beside the headstone, kissing it lovingly before speaking softly to a man they could only hope could hear him from the afterlife. The words and tears Noctis shed before heading out with Ignis and Gladiolus to Insomnia, to finally end the Dark, stuck with Talcott. They were like an echo of Prompto, it was no wonder the two had fallen in love, there was so much there that was the same, and yet they were different.

In Talcott's mind, as the sun rose the next morning, and Ignis and Gladiolus came back alone, Ignis handing Talcott Noctis' phone for 'safe keeping' - Prompto and Noctis were together now. They could be happily together, and watch over the rest of them while they did their best to get the world up and running again.


End file.
